Schools / 2025-2026

DePaul UniversitySupplemental Essays

All 1 required prompt, taken apart one by one: what each is really asking, plus annotated example essays, so you can see how to do it well.

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Required supplemental essays: Common App personal statement
Optional essay: 250-650 words
Personal statement length: Common Application
Application platform

Deadlines Early Action November 15, 2025 · Regular Notification February 1, 2026 · School of Music December 1, 2025 · The Theatre School February 1, 2026 Admit rate DePaul admits roughly 70 percent of first-year applicants, so it is far from a lottery, but the optional essay is still where borderline and test-optional applicants make their case. There is no application fee and recommendation letters are optional, which means the essay is one of the few places your actual voice shows up. Prompts verified from DePaul’s official requirements ↗

DePaul University does not require a supplemental essay for first-year applicants. You apply through the Common Application, and the only essay in play is the Common App personal statement (250-650 words), which DePaul lists as optional. That makes DePaul one of the lightest writing lifts on most students' lists.

Here is the catch. DePaul is test-optional, and the school specifically encourages test-optional applicants to submit the optional personal essay. So if you are not sending SAT or ACT scores, treat the personal statement as functionally required. It becomes the human evidence the admissions reader uses in place of a test number, and a strong one can tip a borderline file.

By the numbers · Figures are drawn from DePaul's recent admission and enrollment reporting and reputable college-data guides. DePaul is one of the largest test-optional, Catholic, Vincentian universities in the country. Verify current numbers on depaul.edu before you apply.

~70%Acceptance rate

~3.78Average admitted GPA

~14,000Undergraduates

Test-optionalTesting policy

What DePaul rewards

A real human voice

DePaul reads holistically and moves through a lot of files. They reward an essay that sounds like an actual seventeen-year-old talking, not a thesaurus. Concrete and warm beats grand and abstract every time.

Grit and self-awareness

As a Vincentian school built around access and second chances, DePaul responds to students who have navigated something real and can reflect on it honestly. Show growth, not just achievement.

Community and service

DePaul's mission centers on service to others, especially people who are overlooked. An essay that shows you noticing and helping someone outside yourself lands well here, as long as it is specific and not performative.

Fit for a city school

DePaul is woven into Chicago. Curiosity, independence, and a willingness to engage with a big, diverse city read as signs you will thrive there.

Strategy, read this first

Because DePaul has no Why DePaul prompt and no supplemental, students assume the essay does not matter and dash off something generic. That is the opening. If you are test-optional, your personal statement is doing the job a test score would do, which means it has to prove you can think, reflect, and write at the college level. Treat it that way.

The single most useful move here is to pick a small, true story and let it carry one idea about who you are. DePaul readers are not looking for the most dramatic life on the pile; they are looking for a student who can take an ordinary moment and show what it taught them. A specific scene, a clear turn, and an honest reflection will outperform a sweeping essay about leadership or passion ten times out of ten.

Common App Personal Statement (DePaul's optional essay) 250-650 words

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. (Common App prompt 7, which DePaul accepts as the optional personal essay.)

What it’s really asking

DePaul does not write its own prompt. It accepts the Common App personal statement, and the most flexible of the seven Common App prompts is the free-choice option above. You may answer any of the seven Common App prompts; this open one simply means you are free to tell whatever true story best shows who you are. Note that program-specific tracks add their own steps: the School of Music and The Theatre School require auditions or interviews, and animation, film, and some art majors require a portfolio and a creative statement separate from this essay.

Why they ask it

DePaul reads holistically and, for test-optional applicants, leans on this essay as evidence of how you think and write. With no Why DePaul prompt and optional recommendation letters, this is the main place your character and voice reach the reader. A vivid, reflective essay reassures them you will handle college work and contribute to a service-minded, urban campus.

Three ways in

An ordinary repeated moment

A small recurring part of your daily life, like a job, a chore, or a commute, that quietly shaped how you see things. Ordinary settings let your specific observations do the work.

A belief you are reworking

A value or habit you inherited from family or culture that you have started to question or make your own. This shows the self-awareness DePaul trusts.

Someone you noticed

A time you helped or simply paid attention to a person other people overlooked, and what it changed in you. This connects naturally to DePaul's service-minded mission.

✕ Weak opening

“Ever since I was a little kid, I have always been passionate about helping others and making a difference in my community.”

✓ Strong opening

“The freezer at the food pantry stuck shut every Tuesday, and by November I knew the exact angle to kick it.”

✦ Annotated example · The food pantry freezer. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →

The freezer at the food pantry stuck shut every Tuesday, and by November I knew the exact angle to kick it.¹I started volunteering because my mom signed me up, not because I cared. For the first month I bagged rice and watched the clock. Then a woman named Estela asked me, in careful English, whether the lentils needed soaking, and I realized I had no idea. I had been handing out food I did not know how to cook.²So I asked. Estela taught me to soak lentils overnight and to save the water. The next week I asked the man with the cane how he made his beans, and he told me about cumin and his late wife in the same breath. The line stopped being a line. It became people I knew by the food they missed.³I still kick the freezer. But now I get there early to talk before we open, because it turns out the thing people are hungriest for is to be asked a question and actually heard. That is the part I want to keep doing, wherever I end up.⁴

1Opens mid-scene with a precise, slightly funny detail. No throat-clearing about passion, just a real place and a real body in it.
2Honest admission. The student undercuts the saintly-volunteer cliche and shows self-awareness, which DePaul's mission readers trust.
3The turn. A concrete habit, asking and listening, replaces vague good intentions. The detail about the late wife earns real emotion without announcing it.
4Reflection that grew out of the story instead of being tacked on. The forward look is modest and specific, exactly the tone DePaul rewards.

Stuck? Start here

What is a small, ordinary moment from the last year that I still think about, and why does it stick?
What is something I used to believe or do that I have changed my mind about, and what changed it?
When did I notice or help someone other people walked past, and what did it teach me about myself?

Before you submit

Could only I have written this essay, or could half my class have submitted it?
Does the reflection unfold across the second half, instead of being crammed into the last sentence?
Is it well under 650 words and written in a voice that sounds like me reading it aloud?

Mistakes that sink DePaul essays

✕ Do not skip it because it is optional

For test-optional applicants especially, optional means expected. Submitting no essay tells DePaul you either could not be bothered or could not write one. Neither helps.

✕ Do not write a resume in paragraph form

Listing your clubs, sports, and awards wastes the one space built for voice. The reader already has your activities list. Give them the person behind it instead.

✕ Do not force a Chicago or DePaul reference

There is no Why DePaul prompt, so you do not need to name-drop the school or the city. A shoehorned line about loving Chicago reads as filler. Write the best story about yourself; fit comes through naturally.

✕ Do not save the meaning for the last line

A common trap is a nice story with the reflection crammed into a final sentence. Let what the moment meant breathe across the second half of the essay, not just the closing.

DePaul essay FAQ

Does DePaul University require a supplemental essay for 2025-26?

No. DePaul does not require any supplemental essay for first-year applicants. You apply through the Common Application, and the Common App personal statement is listed as optional rather than required.

If the essay is optional, should I still write one?

Yes, especially if you are applying test-optional. DePaul specifically encourages test-optional applicants to submit the optional personal essay through the Common App, since it gives the reader evidence of your thinking and writing in place of a test score.

How long should the DePaul essay be?

The Common App personal statement is 250 to 650 words. Aim to land comfortably under 650; a tight, specific essay around 500 to 600 words is plenty.

Is DePaul test-optional?

Yes. DePaul is test-optional for most undergraduate programs, so SAT and ACT scores are not required. If you choose not to submit scores, the optional essay becomes the most important way to strengthen your file.

What are DePaul's application deadlines for fall 2026?

Early Action is November 15, 2025, and Regular Notification is February 1, 2026. The School of Music deadline is December 1, 2025, and The Theatre School deadline is February 1, 2026.

Are there extra essay requirements for music, theatre, or art majors?

Yes. Those programs add their own steps. The School of Music and The Theatre School require auditions or interviews, and animation, film, and certain art majors require a portfolio and a creative statement that is separate from the Common App personal statement.

Prompts and facts verified against DePaul Undergraduate Admission (First-Year), DePaul Test-Optional FAQs, DePaul Application Deadlines and DePaul on the Common Application (DePaul University, 2025-2026 cycle). Supplements change yearly, re-verify each cycle.

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